Vectrex news: 12/27/2012
New FURY stuff Apparently not being content with becoming THE most prolific homebrewer for the Vectrex, FURY has produced even more modern day controllers and announced more upcoming games! Their most recent controller, The Yeti, has a joystick that looks to be roughly the same size as one on the original Vectrex controller, along with having four buttons, which sold out immediately. Temporal Lobe is a recently announced game that will be compatible with the Vectrosis Controller and is slated for a 2013 release. FURY has also been releasing some Starblast Controllers here and there over the last several weeks, being limited to e-bay orders only. These are compatible with Star Castle, Rip Off, Armor Attack, Space Frenzy, Repulse, Birds of Prey, Vector Vaders, and Y*A*S*I. And finally, although not new, the ROM for his sold out Royal 21 game was released recently to be played on Vectrex emulators or flashcarts. Current/new videos YouTube user RICHKINGRETRO has a video of a rare Vectrex store display, complete with Mine Storm instructions. Unfortunately in his video he describes shorting out his U. S. version of the system by accidentally attaching an incorrect adapter for it (and as Spike would say, “oh no”!). Stephanie McKeon shows a (her?) Vectrex that was “destroyed in hurricane Sandy”, but modified to work with an iPad in her video! Also, wabenhart has a brief, rare video of a 3D Imager running 3D Mine Storm, whereas dalecooper has two brief videos in regards to his huge “Frankenstick”, being a big modern day controller! GameTechUS also released two videos in regards to Vectrex repair, one of which is almost an hour long! Videos from gliptitude include overlays he made for War of the Worlds and an alternative one for Star Hawk (wow, it looks good in blue and green; who woulda figured?). He also put up two several weeks before in regards to unfinished game demos that someone on Atari Age had posted about that we had neglected to mention with our previous news update. Rebirth of the Vectrex Finally, on November 29, the long-awaited Vectrex Regeneration app was launched for the iPhone and iPad. The free package comes with Mine Storm, Thrust, Continuum, War of the Robots and Vector 21. And for only $6.99 U. S., most of the original GCE-released games come included with that paid package, with more to follow, which includes additional homebrew titles as well. Vectrex anniversaries There were a few Vectrex anniversaries that occurred last month, as November, 2012 marked the 30th anniversary of the console being released in the United States (and many other countries soon afterwards). (Hopefully people at least played it sometime during the month, if not also participated in the International Play Your Vectrex Day as well!). It also marked the two year anniversary of this very wiki, although that was when it was started (in 2010), as it wasn’t officially announced until the following January though. So, happy anniversaries there! New hardware Some joystick reproductions for the original controller were made several weeks ago at the prices of $20 U. S. for one or $15 each if two or more are ordered, which includes shipping. Only a few are left. Go to this thread here if you are interested in any of the remaining ones. New and upcoming wiki additions A strategy guide was added to I, Cyborg, so click on the tabber under Links on that page in order to read it. Also, we are currently in talks with Rob Maerz of Retrocade Magazine in regards to putting up a page on his all-Vectrex Vector Wars contests, so be on the lookout for that coming soon to this wiki! International Play Your Vectrex Day/results In the very first of possibly an annual event of the International Play Your Vectrex Day that was held on November 1, here are some results from the Day where people played their Vectrex and reported in on their activities: *24 people and organizations (plus one honorable mention) participated, who *Hailed from six countries worldwide *28 individual games were played *Two videos were made of gameplay *Two people (KilleRotom and Darryl M in Calgary) played 15 games each! *Several others played multiple games each *The top games included Mine Storm (with six “official” players, and 12 total, as one of the rules stated that names were needed in order to be counted) with the top homebrew being Vector Pilot (also with six) *And last but undoubtedly not least, player KosmikVector got a Vectrex TATTOO on that Day! More can be seen (such as many Vectrex-related photos and a few comments left by players) on the International Play Your Vectrex Day page! A good day for Vectrex owners and players, to be sure! Vectrexes at a Houston gaming expo? At the Houston Area Arcade Group’s (H. A. A. G.) web site, one, if not two Vectrexes were scheduled to appear at their November 2-3 show. It is unknown if they made it to the event, since this wiki founder Darrylb500 played one at a show before he started this wiki, and then with the shows after that, one didn’t appear, but he missed this year’s show though! Well, maybe next year there will be one or more Vectrexes and Darryl will be able to attend, create a page and take some pics. New Vectrex serial number database launched There have been a few web sites where Vectrex owners could register the serial numbers of their machines. Oliver of the Vectrex Museum site created a new, more comprehensive one than any of the previous ones, as people can include stories of how and where they first got their machines. So check that out here and join the growing (currently) 28 records entered from around the world thus far! And as this edition of the news closes out, let us wish everyone a happy 2013, especially with all kinds of Vectrex goodies slated to appear, along with some possible surprises! Category:Vectrex games Category:Hardware Category:Vectrex news Category:Homebrew Category:Homebrewer Category:Vectrex events Category:Miscellaneous Vectrex